AlterWorld: Play to Live, Book 1

A new pandemic - the perma effect - has taken over Earth of the near future. Whenever you play your favorite online game, beware: your mind might merge with the virtual world and dump its comatose host. Woe be to those stuck forever in Tetris! But some unfortunates - the handicapped and the terminally ill, shell-shocked army vets, wronged crime victims and other society misfits - choose to flee real life willingly, escaping to the limitless world of online sword and sorcery MMORPGs.

The War: Play to Live, Book 6

The magic flames are raging. Blades are melting. Souls are reduced to ashes in the fury of battle. The grand finale of the war for the First Temple is upon us. The last trump cards have been played, the reserves are all exhausted, and even the gods have engaged in the plebeian fight. The universe is on the point of collapse. Broken are the chains that hold the worlds together. The icy waters of the Baltic cool the scorching sands of the Frontier.

The Ultimation: Play to Live, Book 7

The magic flames are raging. Blades are melting. Souls are reduced to ashes in the fury of battle. The grand finale of the war for the First Temple is upon us. The last trump cards have been played, the reserves are all exhausted, and even the gods have engaged in the plebeian fight. The universe is on the point of collapse. Broken are the chains that held the worlds together. The icy waters of the Baltic cool the scorching sands of the Frontier.

The Secret of the Dark Forest: Way of the Shaman Series, Book 3

The virtual world of Barliona is a place of rest and entertainment - but not for everyone. It has become a survival arena for Daniel Mahan after he was sentenced to eight years in its virtual jail. Mahan has been through it all: the back-breaking work in the mines, betrayal by other prisoners, and finally, the retrial which has released him into Barliona's common world. What more could one want? Mahan could have kept a low profile and enjoyed relative freedom while serving the rest of his time.

Survival Quest: Way of the Shaman Series # 1

Barliona: a virtual world jam-packed with monsters, battles - and, predictably, players. Millions of them come to Barliona, looking forward to the things they can't get in real life: elves and magic, dragons and princesses, and unforgettable combat. The game has become so popular that players now choose to spend months online without returning home. In Barliona, anything goes: You can assault fellow players, level up, become a mythical hero, a wizard, or a legendary thief.

The Land: Founding: Chaos Seeds, Book 1

Getting eaten alive is the worst! Stabbings, maimings, and corrosive black magic are not that great either, but you really don't want to be a wolf treat! That is the kind of hands on, "teeth on", education you get when you are summoned to the Land.

Darkcozbo says:"A Story as a game playing a game, while being real life!!!"

Awaken Online: Catharsis

Jason logs into Awaken Online fed-up with reality. He's in desperate need of an escape, and this game is his ticket to finally feeling the type of power and freedom that are so sorely lacking in his real life. Awaken Online is a brand new virtual reality game that just hit the market, promising an unprecedented level of immersion. Yet Jason quickly finds himself pushed down a path he didn't expect. In this game, he isn't the hero. There are no damsels to save. There are no bad guys to vanquish.

Otherlife Awakenings: The Selfless Hero Trilogy

Runner and his team managed to bring peace to Tirtius, successfully log the crew out, and have begun settling in to make a home on the isle of Vix. Fate isn't going to let them go that easily though. She clearly hasn't decided on what to do with him. Plots are in motion. Threats local, divine, and abroad scheme to exterminate Runner and the threat he represents. The possibility of what he could become.

Otherlife Dreams: The Selfless Hero Trilogy

Runner has a problem. He and 499,000 men and women are trapped in a game. He also just happens to be the only person from IT who could log everyone out safely. And he doesn't remember his password. He, like everyone else in this nightmare, had his memory scrambled or lost in the process of being loaded into the game. A single garbled message is his only clue to how to save everyone. The problem is that whoever loaded them into the game loaded their minds completely.

The Citadel: Mirror World Series, Book 2

Performing deeds of online valor is the last thing on Oleg's mind, though. Neither does he care about any ancient lore. He's never trusted adventure, anyway. Mirror World is no place for the likes of him. Still, he's here to stay - at the demand of Reflex Bank, which has granted him a loan for his daughter's hospital treatment. Which is the only reason he's joined the ranks of the defenders of the Maragar Citadel.

Project Daily Grind: Mirror World Series, Book 1

The ads enthused, "The virtual lands of Mirror World await you! Live out your most secret dreams in our world of Sword and Sorcery! Become a Great Wizard or a Famous Warrior! Build your own castle, tame a dragon, conquer a kingdom! All those desperate, lonely, and insecure - Mirror World offers you a chance!" But Oleg isn't meant to become a great wizard or a famous warrior. He'll never have a castle of his own. Nor will he ever tame a dragon. And he's definitely not the type to conquer a kingdom, however virtual it may be.

Otherlife Nightmares: The Selfless Hero Trilogy

Runner and company have safely left the city ahead of the siege. Completing their class promotions with barely any time to spare. Unfortunately Runner hasn't discovered the password he needs to begin the logoff process to save the 400,000 or so crewmates left alive in this game where dying truly means death.

Edge of Reality: Phantom Server Trilogy, Book 1

He is a cyber dweller. A gamer who's grown up in the web of virtual illusion woven from hundreds of phantom worlds. His biggest dream is to dump the real world for good. His desperate hunger for new experiences forces him to take a risk and become one of the first proud owners of a neuronet implant. The new gadget becomes part of him, but soon it's not enough. If only he could finally burn all his bridges and make a step beyond the real world....

Extermination: Daniel Black, Book 3

Gaea's favored children have put her ancient plan to cleanse the Earth of humans into motion, and Kozalin stands high on their list of targets. Uncertain alliances, scheming gods, and an implacable foe will push Daniel to his limits. How far will the wizard from Earth go to protect his family?

New Contract: Perimeter Defense Series, Book 3

The enemy's at the gate, the situation getting worse by the second, and Ruslan's employer hasn't done a good job (to put it mildly) of securing his successes. Now the star system Unatari is under threat from the Aliens. It's high time Ruslan came back in order to rescue everything he holds dear from imminent destruction and save Perimeter Defense - the game that has become his life.

Critical Failures: Caverns and Creatures, Book 1

Tim and his friends find out the hard way that you shouldn't question the game master, and you shouldn't make fun of his cape. One minute, they're drinking away the dreariness of their lives, escaping into a fantasy game and laughing their asses off. The next minute, they're in a horse-drawn cart surrounded by soldiers pointing crossbows at them.

NPCs

What happens when the haggling is done and the shops are closed? When the quest has been given, the steeds saddled, and the adventurers are off to their next encounter? They keep the world running, the food cooked, and the horses shoed, yet what adventurer has ever spared a thought or concern for the Non-Player Characters? In the town of Maplebark, four such NPCs settle in for a night of actively ignoring the adventurers drinking in the tavern when things go quickly and fatally awry.

Fimbulwinter: Daniel Black, Book 1

Summoned to a world in the midst of apocalypse, Daniel Black would have his hands full just staying alive. Add in refugees, desperate soldiers, scheming nobles and a pair of thoroughly wicked witches, and life is going to be very busy indeed. Good thing he has magic of his own to even the scales. But will even that be enough?

Black Coven: Daniel Black, Book 2

Surviving Ragnarok is a challenge no matter what powers you have, and new problems keep cropping up. Demanding witches, genocidal monsters, divine feuds, and local politics will all keep Daniel on his toes. But his enemies have made one crucial mistake. They've given an engineer who understands the nature of magic time to build things.

Super Powereds: Year 3: Super Powereds, Book 3

Junior year has come for the remaining students of Melbrook Hall, and it promises to be the most difficult one yet. With one of their own gone and another under serious investigation, none of the former Powereds know how many days remain for them in the Hero Certification Program. The time they do have will be filled with more trials and classes, honing their skills as they work toward the increasingly difficult goal of becoming Heroes.

Sector Eight: Perimeter Defense, Book 1

A strange body that refuses to obey you; a weird game you can't quit until your contract expires; a world teeming with powerful and very real enemies. The game in which your reputation and faction relationship are the only things that matter. These are the conditions of the agreement Ruslan signs without reading. The only thing he remembers is that he's been contracted to command a space fleet in a brand-new game he knows nothing about. Objective: to survive for six months.

Super Powereds: Year 2: Super Powereds, Book 2

Despite having their secret revealed, the residents of Melbrook Hall return to Lander University for another year in the Hero Certification Program. Good thing the focus of this year is teamwork, because with their origins known, they'll have to lean on each other more than ever. Now finally sophomores, their curriculum expands, allowing them to train in the majors that Heroes specialize in. The new classes will test their minds, bodies, and determination in ways never anticipated.

Publisher's Summary

The perma players' new reality gains depth and color. The virtual world has seen its first birth - and its first death. The invisible umbilical cord connecting AlterWorld to Earth grows thinner, and even the Fallen One cannot prevent the looming catastrophe. Could Max have ignored the Russian girl who'd just escaped slavery in a virtual China? Could he have turned a deaf ear to her pleas as the desperate fugitive clutched at straws on hearing her native tongue? All this triggers a full-blown confrontation, sending armies of thousands into battle in the heart of the Frontier, burning kilotons of mana, melting desert sands and hacking through impervious mithril armor. The two nations' furious war cries obscure the sky as the gods shudder at humans' desperate cruelty.

So. I'm clipping through this series extremely quickly, just about a book a day- that should tell folks a lot about how engaging it is. I was rapidly developing into major fandom after I finished book II; this hasn't really been taken off the table, but it has been placed on the back burner pending book four. I'm going to preface the following with this: these books are translated and, as such, a *lot* can get lost in the process if it isn't done carefully. There are a few idioms and grammatical errors that are clearly translator/editor errors. The following issues may also be partially such as well.

Where the first two books were concerned with growth, building, and amazement (which isn't to say that isn't part of the current book), some very odd factors are starting to bleed into the story. Rus is starting to express some extremely xenophobic and... nationalistic feelings in his books. While we are rolling along in Alterworld, the protagonist goes on paragraphs long tirades about the glory of the Russian army in world war II, the cost of defeating the Germans, and centuries old hatred of Asians. Then we're ripped back into this world of magic and swords.

I'm not xenophobic myself, nor do I expect the world to conform to my "American Born During the Last Gasp of the Cold War" outlook on things. I fully understand that this is a Russian author writing about Russians who have melded into a virtual world. My issue isn't necessarily with the nationalism etc (not that I agree with it, obviously), but rather its bizarre juxtaposition in the book. I would take identical pause with a lot of talk about the glorious American spirit and centuries old anger at England for oppressing us, or how we liberated the concentration camps being interspersed in a piece of pure nerd fiction. It's almost like we have Monty Python sitting there saying "and now for something completely different..."

This being said, Rus has started to explore much more intense concepts as well. Slavery is discussed at length... but instead of it being a laudable denial of slavery in total, it is once more put through the nationalistic lens. For example, Russian lives are worth 10 of X race and, during one exchange, citizens from former USSR nations are left in captivity.

Religion is also tackled more intensely in this installment, which is always a touchy subject in MMORPGs. I don't think Rus does a particularly bad job of exploring it, nor is anything terribly offensive to the mind. Those more dogmatically inclined may feel differently.

Rus also exposes more of a chauvinistic side as well. In prior books it could be interpreted as a commentary on how women are treated in games (which is a very valid commentary indeed), but... it's verged a few times into the grey zone in this installment. Nothing outrightly 'bad' necessarily... just off.

I don't want to make it sound like the whole book was off-putting, it really wasn't. The vast majority was extremely entertaining and driven. The characters are developing nicely, drama is present, and we have moved into much broader topics. Overall I was less impressed, but still clipped along with the listening. Giving book four a shot, we'll see how it plays out.

Still worth a listen and your time, especially if you have been following along since book one.

I very much enjoyed this instalment if the series! I kept looking for more time to keep listening! This book really showed Max growing as a leader, tied up some loose ends from the first and second books, explore more of Alter World, and liberate more slaves. Another aspect of the story I really like is that each chapter starts with some IRL events and reports; in this book there are player characters that are followed IRL. My only real problem is with how the book ended felt rushed at some point. A good portion of the book was about going thru Asian territory to get to another temple; when they get there it's a matter of about 10 minutes and Max ends the raid ASAP. It felt like this time in the temple was rushed to get to the conclusion.

I really want to mention, though, that I have read some other reviews are this book concerning racism. Some reviewers say that D. Rus used some stereotyping of Asian people and go further saying that he makes a generalization that all Asian's are the same. this is absolutely not true. D Rus created Asian slaver bad guys but no where does it mention that all Asian's are like the bad guys. If anything, Mr. Rus gives Russia's more crap than anyone else. that's just something that bothered me.

some favorite moments were Loth's lair, Max picking up his 'cat' Bageara, assault on the gangster/slaver fort, Basilisk eggs, and almost every IRL moment.

Also, Michael Goldstrom has done another AMAZING job yet again. he is one of my new favorite narrators

Since book one I have thought, that's not how gamers talk. Neither I nor any of my friends calls every girl on the mike babe, yet in this book series that is how every woman is referred too. I just saw it as a petty annoyance at first but ignored it because this writer is so good at describing in game character building in a way that you feel like you are the one building the character. As the books went on the sexism got worse and worse. While I will admit that the author does it to his male characters too (where the crap is bug!! Two and a third books since he was introduced and no Bug!!!) the lack of use of Tali in the this and the last books and only using her as a plot device in this book stripping her of what little character she had is unforgivable. I am going to have trouble continuing to read this book series. I don't know if I can last four more books of hearing about this guys inner greedy pig constantly without hearing about the characters in the story that I really want to care about. There are also parts in the book that make me worry about how the author might treat women in real life as he portrays them as being creatures that when not tamed and made to obey men only cause men pain only giving a woman the purpose of affecting a man and no character and purpose of their own. The only reason I did not rate this book lower is because I still love alter world and the concepts of the game.

Our hero goes from one hopeless situation to the next. His first taste of war, the never ending battle against his "inner-greedy-pig" continue and painful losses await him. All of which, is handled with his usual comedic wit. A must read for fans of the series!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was mostly a time killer - it's the 3rd book in a series that has been OK but going downhill.

What did you like best about this story?

When the storyline focused on the gameplay and character relations - that I could see.

What didn’t you like about Michael Goldstrom’s performance?

It was bland. The voices were too similar between characters. The cadence was quite quirky and inflections on the wrong words would make the story stutter rather than flow or create an emotion.

Do you think The Duty needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It has one - The Inferno, which I haven't decided if I'm going to purchase yet. The three so far have gone downhill and the last book could be, well, less.

There was a decent cliff-hanger however, so that's the only thing that still has me on the hook.

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful story concept - I'm a huge fan of gaming storylines. This is the first series I've experienced about mmorpg gaming. It's a fairly new and modern book and set in the future and translated from Russian. I think my issues with this book lie there.

I noticed that the first story had a few odd things in the cadence and vocabulary at times. The Clan continued the strangeness and leveled it up a bit. However, The Duty reached a new level of weird- there is a lot of jumping around and disjointed topics. There is also a large amount of Nationalism and saber-rattling about historic conflicts that distracted from this being a story about gaming. Yes, a bit of it is necessary to set up how various governments are going to handle the laws and crime and punishment of the virtual world, but I didn't handle it well, with an eye-roll occasionally when he started on a new tangent about the Chinese or Germans in an old Russian conflict.

The other part of the translation is that the vocal cadence didn't seem smooth or continuous. A sentence would end as a question and there would be a pause like a written paragraph break and then another sentence that should be part of the same conversation would seem totally unrelated.

The vocalizations for the most part were quite similar and I would loose track of who was speaking at times.

There were some fun and 'visually stimulating ' pieces to the story. However there were just to many disjointed parts that were simply narration that didn't stimulate the imagination enough to keep me very interested.

I'm invested in the series- three books now but this may have put me off finishing up by buying the next installment.

Darn it, I'm completely invested in this series now. I can't stop listening at night which is giving me some tired mornings to deal with. Off to get book # 4 right now. The story continues to be engaging, the characters are sucking me in, and the narrator is awesome with a good clean reading of the story. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

Jumped right into this one after the first two reads. The author is doing a good job of fleshing out characters and ramping up the story. Interesting way of shifting between characters. The timing in the story is a little disconcerting but not enough to make it confusing. I enjoy the story line and departure from the first book of throwing in too much game play. Looking forward to the next installment.

Magic, and fantasy are staples of the play to live novels with a touch of SciFi and laughter this one stay true to that,but a new element of life is revealed in the type of ending that this auther uses so well